Test Me On This: Tithing

My prayer journal entry from December 23rd, 2020

Jun 11, 2023

In 2020 when life started to get rough, when my wife and I started to feel the pinch financially, and when Covid really put a strain on our business, we decided that we were really going to lean in on our faith in Jesus. In doing so, we decided that we would make tithing a priority.

We had given money to the church several times before, but it wasn’t consistent and I wouldn’t say we were bringing the “first fruits of our harvest” as the Lord call us to do. It was more random and at our convenience. During this season of uncertainty, however, we felt called to really lean in, tithe, and put all of our trust in Jesus.

Malachi 3:10 NIV Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.

I’ve heard several testimonies from others in this and the biggest realization I’ve made through my own giving is that the Lord wants to see our hearts…

Mark 12:41 - 43 NIV ⁴¹Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. ⁴²But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a few cents.
⁴³Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. ⁴⁴They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.”

Jesus wants us to have a complete dependency on Him. Even I have to be careful to not let tithing become “routine” and just one of those things I do because “that’s what Christians should be doing.” Instead, I want tithing (and giving) to be one of those things I love and yearn to do.

The Lord does not need our money. He wants our hearts and complete devotion to Him in all that we do (including our finances).

Matthew 22:34 - 39 NIV ³⁴Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. ³⁵One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: ³⁶“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
³⁷Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ ³⁸This is the first and greatest commandment. ³⁹And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ ⁴⁰All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

In Malachi 3:10, the Lord also tells us to test him in this. So, we did. There wasn’t a better time to lean in and show our trust in Jesus than during this season of uncertainty and instability. The blessings we would end up receiving in 2020 were unexpected (and though times got even tougher at the beginning of 2021 (more to come on this), the Lord was faithful through it all and the blessings became more abundant as we kept holding onto His promises)…

Here’s my prayer journal entry from December 23rd, 2020…

[Re-typed and elaborated for clarity and context…]

Wednesday, December 23, 2020 7:14p

Jesus,

So many blessings in the last couple of days that I just wanted to say thank you. Yesterday, Shannon and I celebrated 13 years of marriage with a wonderful night. We went to Spark and had a wonderful meal and then stayed at Magnolia Plantation Bed and Breakfast. It was a wonderful date and my sister and Austin [my brother-in-law] graciously took the boys for the night. (Side note: Jesus - please bless [names omitted] at the bed n’ breakfast. They are so kind and I can tell they have had some financial hardships this year due to COVID. Please help them. Take care of them.)

On Monday, Shannon had lunch with [name omitted] and received a $2500 bonus. This was certainly a blessing as we prepare to go on vacation with family. A very nice gift for sure. Today, Mom texted me and said that Mema had left us a part of the house. Mema had nothing to give, yet she gave everything. [My grandmother exemplified a life completely dependent on Jesus and is a huge reason why my faith is so strong today.] Tell her I love her and miss her. I’m grateful for the gift and again… the blessing showed up at a wonderful time. Thank you. $3,666 of unexpected income this month.

Final thoughts and reflection (mainly so I remember and never doubt…), there have been countless blessings like this ([names omitted] also gave us $5,000 unexpectedly earlier this year too) and one of the things Shannon and I have done consistently this year is to tithe 10% of everything we received. You say to test this and whoa… the blessings amongst the chaos of the year have certainly appeared. Thank you. [I don’t always believe that the blessings will be financial. I would eventually find myself back in the trenches of the business in 2021 and one of the greatest blessings I received during this season was my health. I would enter back-to-school season after back-to-school season, surrounded by sick college students in and out of the scooter dealership, and remained in great health throughout. Praise God.]

May tomorrow be a wonderful Christmas Eve with the family. Looking forward to Christmas Day w/ Shannon, Schaefer, and Maddox and then traveling to Tampa to see my family and prepare for this trip to New Mexico. Please let us travel safely, no headaches or delays, no problems due to COVID, keep everyone healthy please God, and let us make memories that last forever. [The trip was absolutely amazing. I love spending quality time with all my family.] Thank you again for all these incredible blessings. I love you so much.

Happy Birthday in two days :)

Collin

If you are a believer, do you tithe?

If not, I’d encourage you to lean into it with a heart of complete devotion and dependency on Jesus and give it a try.

Thank you for reading! Praying you will have a blessed week ahead.

Best always,

Collin

Side Note: I had several prayers that I journaled through the course of December 2020, but many of them were prayers over specific friends in my life and their circumstances. Out of respect for them and their privacy, I haven’t shared those journal entries. I would like to encourage you to not get lost in your own circumstances and to take time to pray for others.

Pictures from December 2020…

This is one of the coolest Christmas gifts I have ever received. The team worked with Sarah Lentz (who was a WHOA GNV intern, (later became an) NS4L team member, side-hustle entrepreneur, and now a wonderful friend) to make this for me! It’s made of old New Scooters 4 Less shirts. It brought back a flood of memories and stirred a lot of emotions since I believed I’d soon be getting out of the business.